hi, everyone. i'm tamron hall. the "news nation" is following breaking news in the escalating conflict between israel and gaza. today jerusalem became a target of palestinian rocket fire. air-raid sirens rang out in the capital tel aviv. at least one incoming missile landed in the jerusalem outskirts. the israeli military continued to pound gaza with air strikes, but is not saying that a ground assault may be necessary to stop the rocket fire coming from gaza. it all happened on a day that was supposed to be marked by a cease-fire. at least 23 palestinians and 3 israelis have been killed since israel began the air strike offensive two days ago. israel has called up thousands of troops and seems poised to go

into the palestinian territory. >> israel will continue to exercise the prudence and self-restraint while defending our citizens against terrorism. >> nbc is reporting from a second day from gaza. what's the situation as we see nightfall there behind you? >> reporter: tamron, it's pitch-black behind me. it has an eerie silence to it. i can tell you from having stayed "up all night" yesterday to the sounds of israeli explosions, that's what people are bracing themselves for. you can't make this point enough, but this part of gaza certainly all across the territory doesn't have early warning signs and sirens like in tel aviv. that's because this is not a war between two equal militaries, and that is why there's a great sense of fear and anxiety among the people of gaza. right now we heard in the past hour or so the sounds of israeli strikes. we occasionally hear the sounds of israeli drones up above overhead. every once in a while we hear the sounds of a palestinian

rocket launched from gaza into southern israel, an indication that the violence is not slowing down. many people hoped with the arrival of the egyptian prime minister earlier today there will be a llull in the violence. that did not happen. shortly after there were palestinian rockets fires. in the last hour we confirmed that an israeli air strike took place killing four palestinians. we understand that some killed were militants that were part of the faction from hamas. it is very much going to be a long night as it was for the past two nights. tamron. >> live for you in gaza. let's bring in martin fletcher from tel aviv. i've been watching your reports all day long. you've noted in most of your reports the situation in jerusalem and how this may be the game changer. >> that's right, tamron. for the first time evernham mass fired a rocket as jerusalem, which nobody expected. jerusalem has a large arab population. the rockets fell harmlessly

outside jerusalem between jerusalem and bethlehem, actually, in an area where the jewish settlements were. if they had fallen and killed israelis in israel's capital, the soul of the -- the jewish soul of the nation, that would have been a game changer. also the attacks on tel aviv earlier yesterday, the first one ever and the second one today. the rocket today that was fired aat tel aviv landed a couple of hundred yards away off the shore in the sea but right next to a crowd of beach. it had fallen a few hundred yards to the right. it would have been a tragedy, and that would have been the spot that could provoke israel's invasion of gaza, which everybody is standing by to see if israel will invade gaza on the ground or not, tamron. >> that is the question that no one can answer, at least no one outside of the officials, netanyahu and others. but it is interesting your assessment at least of the

movement and what the indications are regarding a ground offensive. >> well, yeah. all preparations have been made now for israel to invade gaza. the regular army is poised on the edge of gaza. we were there today as a matter of fact with 30 or 40 tanks. the soldiers were cleaning their barrels and getting everything ready and making sure the tanks would work if the order comes. at the same time, israel called up overnight 16,000 soldiers, reservists who today were going to join the units and bases and moving towards the south. so israel is ready to invade gaza. they're just waiting for the order. when you said we assume only maybe the prime minister and a few others know what's going to happen, i'm not sure they know what will happen. they want to stop the palestinian rockets from the air, but if they can't, well, then the next option would be a ground invasion, tamron. >> martin, thank you very much. in cairo today thousands gather

to protest the gaza air strikes demanding that the egyptian government cut ties with israel. that's a development in the region. let's bring in "time" magazine international editor jim frederick. you heard the reports with me. martin fletcher indicating that perhaps not even net uh-hy neta anyone knows what the next phase will be? >> the next 48 hours are critical because the deputy foreign minister basically threatened hamas. you might have a ground offensive. the very important thing to keep our eye on over the next 48 hours is that yippian president morsi is meeting with the prime minister from turkey. they're meeting in cairo. these are two crucial countries. on one hand you have -- they're both large populations. historic allally they're wester friendly. they're anchors between israel and their neighbors.

he's probably the most distinguished and elder statementsmen in the region, and morsi is new and democratically elected and trying to make his mark as a statesman himself. it's unclear what kind of pressure they can bring to bear on israel. both would resist getting involved militarily, but unpredictable things can happen. those are the two things to keep our eye out for. >> thousands protested the gaza air strikes as a different climate in egypt. we have a civil war in syria impacting that entire area. i have to ask you about the air strikes to jerusalem. as martin fletcher mentioned, this did not happen. >> there's a large palestinian population in jerusalem, which is not quite the same number of arabs live in tel aviv. a fair number live in tel aviv, but a large number of arabs live in palestinian. it's the first time a rocket was fired into jerusalem for 40

years. it's what baffling. it absolutely has escalated issues, and it's definitely now emboldened israel's case we're trying to preserve peace in our own countryland. >> obviously, the loss of life, including children in gaza. when anyone hears the headline 13 dead, many of them children, we know the reaction. >> i mean, this turned into in 24 hours an increasingly bloody conflict. we saw photos and video coming out. there's dead children on both sides. >> absolutely. >> wrapped in shrouds. it's escalating and getting very precare yus for the entire region. >> thank you very much, jim. we'll see what the next 48 hours bringi brings us. president has start aid meeting with siveng leaders to talk about this economy. earlier today the president metaphmet for the first time with congressional leaders to avoid the fiscal cliff we talked so much about.

both sides emerged saying they are willing to make one choices. the one word they all used to describe the meeting was constructive. >> our challenge is to make sure that, you know, we are able it to cooperate together, work together, find some common ground, make some tough compromises, build some consensus to do the people's business. >> to show our seriousness, we've put revenue on the table, as long as it's accompanied by significant spending cuts. >> let me bring in nbc news white house correspondent kristen welker. from those two sound bites alone, one would think things are a lot better than when this battle was forged before. >> reporter: well, i think that both sides feel a fresh urgency to get something done. you're absolutely right, tamron. they know they can't have the same sort of disastrous debacle happen that we saw during the debt ceiling fight of 2011. i think that they know they have to work together.

president obama feeling emboldened about winning re-election. he's demanding that the bush era tax cuts expire for the wealthiest americans. that's something that republicans have typically opposed, but today house speaker john boehner seemed to suggest he was open to wiggle room on the issue of taxes or fresh revenues. on the other hand, democrats are willing to compromise on sacred cows, entitlement reform. let's hear more of what the congressional leaders had to say after the meeting. take a listen. >> we should have a goal in terms of how much deficit reduction. we should have a deadline before christmas. we should share some milestones of success so that confidence can build. >> we have the cornerstones of being able to work something out. we're both going to give up some of the things that we know are a problem. >> we're prepared to put revenue

on the table, provided we fix the real problem. >> reporter: tamron, if they can't avoid going over the fiscal cliff, it could mean economic disaster and the economy slips back into recession. i think we have a graphic of what that would specifically look like. the unemployment rate could tick back up to 9.1%, more than 3 million jobs could be lost. it could be a tax hike of $2,000 to middle income families. i spoke with some aides on the hill and asked them what specifically was put on the table today. they said today was more about laying out broad outlines for what they will be willing to compromise on. they're saying they don't think they'll see a lot of progress until after thanksgiving. i want to say, tamron, that it was house speaker john boehner's birthday. president obama gave him a bottle of wine. >> kristen, you spoimed it. we were going to show that

later. rats. really, kristen welker? >> caller: so, sorry. >> i have something else to ask you about. i'm just giving you grief. the civic meeting is taking place, the reverend al, the national action network, and he's meeting with civic leaders. is he prepares some on the letter r left for concessions or things they may not like that comes out of these negotiations? >> reporter: well, i think it's both. i think it's that he's trying to prepare some on the left for concessions. he's trying to build up really his strength to be able to put pressure on republicans to come to the table with him over taxes. president obama meeting with with union leaders early this week, also business leaders, so he's really trying to form a broad consensus, i think, to put pressure on republicans and democrats to get something done, to actually get something accomplished before that january 1st deadline.

tamron. >> kristen welker. we'll show you the gift in a moment with speaker boehner coming u. don't be sorry. you've done nothing. former cia director david petraeus is arriving home after a hearing on capitol hill appearing for the first time since his resignation over the affair. the general testified about what led to the deadly attack in benghazi. >> he made it clear that there was significant terrorist involvement, and that is not my recollection of what he told us. >> we'll get a live report from capitol hill. plus, former mississippi governor haley barbour's shall i say unique take on what republicans need to do after losing the election. >> we've got to give our political organizational activity, you know, a very serious proctology exam.

>> ouch. how easy will be it for republicans to fix their problem? i'll ask our political panel. you can join our conversation. you can find us at @tamron hall and @newsnation. think my pick for our friday song, i think. [ male announcer ] this is sheldon, whose long dy setting up the news starts with arthritis pain and a choice. take tylenol or take aleve, the #1 recommended pain reliever by orthopedic doctors. just two aleve can keep pain away all day. back to the news.

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there are many streams much intelligence but he stated that he thought all along he made it clear that there was significant terrorist involvement, and that is not my recollection of what he told us on september 14th. i'm satisfied with the ultimate conclusion he reached. i told him that i honestly disagree with his recollection

of what he told us on september 14th. >> that was congressman peter king speaking to reporters on capitol hill today following the testimony begin by general david petraeus. the general is now back at home after going before two separate closed hearings. the ex-cia director arrived on capitol hill through a secure location this morning avoid the media staked out at the capitol. he met privately with the house and senate intelligence committees and answered questions about the attack on the consulate in benghazi. senators reacted before the camera just a short time ago. >> we have spent the last two hours-plus with former director petraeus. he laid out his view, which was very much appreciated. he answered a large number of questions. >> as the only individual in a leadership position who has been back on the ground in libya since the incident occurred on

september 11th, it was very important to get him in. he did have a little bit different perspective on some things and clarified some of the issues that were still a little cloudy. >> joining me now, nbc news capitol hill correspondent kelly o'donnell. things are a little cloudy was the last reference there. let's follow the testimony. this wasn't sworn testimony. i'm intrigued by the fact that congressman king says it was a different recollection than what he had, at least what he heard from general petraeus today. what does that mean? >> reporter: it seems only congressman king is focused on this, and meaning senators are not saying the same thing. basically what we hear from members of the committee is that petraeus is saying he believed all along that this was the act of terror, terrorists. at the same time, i'm told that there was some concern about were there others who were not directly related to the assault on the consulate who are there who needed to be checked out as well? would those have been

demonstrations, protests, whatever? we now know there was no protest, but that both things could be true. there could have been a pursuit of was there sort of civilian activity going on as well as a terror assault. what we now understand from talking with members of the committee, who are in both parties, that there was a decision made that the very explicit description of this as an act of terror was considered classified, therefore, not in the much talked about talking points that susan rice and others refer to publicly where there was a lot more focus on the potential for a spontaneous demonstration, the video, that kind of thing. that the piece of this puzzle that was more clearly known by the intelligence community of the involvement of terror groups was classified. in part that could be argued as a protection required in order to try to pursue them, that kind of thing. that is new information today, and it helps to show us how

there might have been two tracks happening all along. the public statements that were reflecting part of what they may have known. the real question is, if they knew it was terrorism all along, was there too much suggestion that a video or demonstrations may have been involved? that's what people see very differently often based on their political point of view. >> yes, and it is based on political point of view. the fact of the matter, the information that susan rice was provided and what she indicated on "meet the press" and other programs, that would have been a part of the declassified? is that what you are saying, kelly? >> caller: y >> reporter: yes. >> she's telling the facts she knew? >> reporter: that's what we've been told. what we've learned is there had been more talking points, and they were narrowed to the points that she was making. in the broader section of talking points, there was more explicit discussion of

terrorism. decisions were made. we don't have all the answers as to why that was done. some will say there might be a political implication. others say it's an important security measure to find out who did it, to find them and catch them and so forth. it's new texture today that adds something to this. republicans are critical to sue za zan rice. if she was aware there was more of a theory about al qaeda or other extremist terrorists being involved maybe she leaned too far into the discussion of spontaneous demonstrations and so forth. that's really a political conversation that people are hashing out. the importance of what was talked about today, i think, is really trying to get to the bottom of what was happening on the ground, what could the cia, state department, others have done differently, and what needs to be done for other consulates and embassies in hostile places. there are really serious issues here in addition to part of the political conversation that certainly has em broiled susan

jack. >> joining me is jack jack cobs and molly ball. thanks, molly for coming on again. colonel, it's a pleasure to have you. the classified and versus declassified. over and over today i heard people relate this to weapons of mass destruction, who knew what and when. nefrlgs nevertheless at the heart of this there could have been two tracks there and it appears there were. >> even if they were, trust me, it has always been unambiguous to me as a military man and always unambiguous to anybody with military experience this was not the result of some spontaneous demonstration. the attack had small arms, automatic weapons, rocket-propelled grenades and mortars in a concerted effort to attack. there's no doubt in my mind and anybody else's military mind this was a preplanned attack. for the white house to say anything other than that is

generously -- is, i'd say, economical with the truth. >> the white house and we know from the presidential debate this was the hot point where the president said in his rose garden comments that this was an act of terror. if you believe that's nuanced or not, nevertheless the words came out at that point. the heart of what a lot of the republicans are saying somehow susan rice, as senator mccain referred to her, was not bright or not acting in the full capacity of her job the way she should as a u.n. ambassador. from what general petraeus said and congressman king said general petraeus is not saying the same information. >> it's entirely possible that on the 14th, as peter king said, and he's probably got a pretty good memory, he got a different story from general petraeus. >> that's the cia director at the time. that's not the white house. >> and general petraeus had enough military experience to know himself that when you have an attack like this -- i spent a

lot of time doing this. when you have an aattack like this, it's preplanned and maybe even rehearsed. to say anything else is complete nonsense to a military mind. if peerter king is right and goa different story from general petraeus on the 14th, then petraeus was economical with the truth back then, thoo. >> that's more gentle. molly, let me bring you in on this. peter king is saying that he got one version from general petraeus on the 14th and something different he recalls today. what are we to make of this? >> you know, like you say, this is something that came up in the presidential debates. this is a political fight between democrats and republicans that the republicans are not going to let rest. if the white house thought that once the sort of haze of the election was over that we would all be able to examine this in the clear a lot of day without politics behind it. we see through the hearings

tempers are steal flaring very much. this is a political issue because when you have a terrorist attack on september 11th before a presidential election, and there's confusion about how the administration is characterizing it and there are a lot of questions about what happened, you have to wonder whether something political is going on. i think that's part of what they're trying to get to the bottom of, in addition to all of the other more logistically based stuff. >> what odds, i think, molly and just in these last few hours to the fodder this is all politics, you have general petraeus and peter king, a man who never bites his tongue, coming out and saying what he heard from general petraeus is not what he recalled. when it comes to susan rice, there's a harsher language and assessment regarding what she said on the sunday morning programs than i feel was taken today regarding general petraeus, who is saying all along from the outset he believed this was a deadly attack on the u.s. diplomatic

mission in benghazi by involving al qaeda affiliates. >> it sounds like you're suggesting there's a double standard going on. that's certainly what the president is saying in the press conference the other day, and a lot of democrats feel there's unfairness going on here. it seems to me if you're going to send a top administration official in to testify before congress, you can't then complain when that person gets made a fall guy. that's sort of why you send them in there. >> right. at this point -- it does boil down who will the fall guy be, if you will, in this, colonel, i mean, where does it stop? in the end the ultimate responsibility here is to find out exactly what happened. there's real time video now that they've been privy to. is this about a fall guy or solutions? >> i don't think they'll be -- a, i don't think they can find a fall guy. b, they may run out of time altogether. there's lots of important stuff to do right now with respect to

the budget, and i think they're going to start focusing their attention on that. there's a good possibility this whole story may drift away. >> how would that possible. there are some that want to keep it going for whatever reason. >> they can do it, but at the end of the day it's what gets covered and gets out there and who gets a platt to remember to talk about it. there's an internal investigation, and after a while there will be a release of all this information long after the story will have died. i think this is liable to come up again with susan rice if she's nominated for secretary of state. >> molly, we know it will come up again. there will be public hearings, that take on a whole different level. z >> right. there could be a nomination fight, and both sides natural they plan to dig in their heels on. that was be an intensely political and i think intensely controversial nomination if it

comes. >> you are right. thank you very much, molly. thank you, colonel. chris christie says governor romney blaming his loss on gifts to some voters, he says it's just wrong. >> you can't expect to be a leader of all the people and be divisive. >> plus, the end of an iconic american business, and it means now thousands of people will be out of work. [ female announcer ] with the e-trade 360 investing dashboard.

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fire breaks out on an oil rig in the gulf of mexico. we'll have the latest on that developing story. plus, the first order of business when president obama met with congressional leaders today. >> we're not going to embarrass him with a cake, because we didn't know how many candles were needed. >> yeah, right. >> but we want to wish him a happy birthday. >> how about that yeah, right nudge from speaker boehner to the president? more on what the president did actually give speaker boehner for his birthday. a little light moment there in so much tension. it's one thing we thought you should know. check out the tumblr page. how you know this is behind the scenes? i have no shoes on in that picture. that's really behind our scenes. newsnation.tumblr.com. (child screaming underwater)...

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looks to move ofrom the mitt romney error, if you call it that, look no further than this week's governors conference that posturing is under way for 2016 to save the gop brand. the group just elected louisiana governor bobby jindal as the chairman. just yesterday he slammed romney again, his claims that the loss was due to gifts the president gave to certain voters. today he said it's time for republicans to start looking toward the future. >> this is completely unhelpful. this is not where the republican party needs to go. you need to congratulate the president on his win. it was an impressive win. as a party we need to look forward. >> let me bring in our "news nation" political panel, white house editor for politico rachel and david. rachel, it was your paper, news blog that originally had the jindal comments and he goes on air. i don't know if that's doubling down or putting a face to your words, but nevertheless governor

jindal has -- jon i don't know if it's love lost for mitt romney. what's the motivation? >> think about bobby jindal in the new position. the party is having a very public soul-searching after the election about how to bring in more hispanics, more latinos to show minorities and women voters that they are an all-encompassing party. here comes mitt romney, who they thought they were done with at least for the time being. it's completely off message of everything that the rest of the party is trying to say right now. jindal is trying to say. he's going to tell us not once but twice or even more times, this is not the message i'm trying to get across here. >> it's interesting. there are a lot of new messages. we discussed this from the gop from immigration to taxes. i want it to play what the governor of virginia just said on the gop being flexible on something they seemed to be inflexible on prior to the election. let's play it.

actually, i have the words here. i apologize. the people have spoken. i think we're going to have flexible now. laexs do have consequences. the president campaigned on tax hikes on the wealthy as a piece of overall taxes. it's something that absolutely has to be discussed. david, those are the words i read from the governor of virginia, bob mcdonald. what do you make? >> elected officials really wake up when they see some of their peers losing in an election. there but for the grace of a couple votes could go i. maybe governor mcdonald sees what happened in tim kaine's victory in virginia. i think what's going on here is a recalibration by republicans where they've concluded that getting something done is better for them long-term than remaining obstructionist. i think that's good for everybody involved. if you think back to when there have been big losses for democrats in 2004, when john kerry lost, or even in 2010,

there's a necessary retrenchment that goes on and a recalculation and a recalibration. that's going on right now. the country, i think, will benefit from this, and governor jindal said it best himself. there should be a strong competition for every vote from two parties. he doesn't believe the republican party is competing well enough for those votes, and so they are going to have to change. they are. >> you know, haley barbour described advertise a proctology exam needed for the party. so much is discussed about grover norquist, his influence, his pledge. jason shevitz is the utah congressman supported to this question regarding this pledge. let me play it. >> you signed grover norquist's pledge i assume because every

republican congressman did. >> yes, i did. >> would you be fine doing a compromise to go against your signature on that pledge? >> i do not intend to do that. i want to fight for principles i believe in. i, too, was elected. >> at least with that congressman there's no compromise regarding that. i love the fact he says listen i was elected, too. some see that as putting him on equal footing of the re-election of president. i won't go that far. nevertheless he believes he has a mandate as well. what do you make of that comment? >> we have to see movement on both sides to reach a deal. yes, the republicans will have to move a little bit on revenue. the president ran on this issue largely, and he's been very clear since his re-election in saying the country has endorsed his vision of a balanced way to cut the deficit. so he's going to hold firm on that, but this is not going to be all about republican compromise. we're going to have to see movement from both corners to reach a deal to avoid going over

that so-called fiscal cliff. it's interesting that you mention the pledge, the no-tax pledge. there's some thinking among democrats and some others that maybe the thing to do is to allow the nation to go off this cliff to allow the taxes to rise on everybody and these spending cuts to take effect and then go back in early next year and reach a deal. that might be one way to give more flexibility to anybody who had taken those pledges. >> rachel, are those columnists elected leaders within a democratic party saying that? >> there are some members of the democratic party who think the president needs to hold firm, if they can reach a beneficial deal, great. if not, you know, go ahead and take that plunge and then come back and really get to work. maybe that will give everybody a little more flexibility early in the year. the president is not saying that right now. the leaders are all saying let's try to reach a deal. that is an option out there, and even some aanalysts say if we go off the cliff, as long as we're

able to quickly fix that and come to a deal as a nation, the long-term impact would not be great. >> david, are you hearing democrats say that, especially those elected in office, let's go off the cliff? >> yeah. in fact, a friend of mine who brought me into the clinton white house was just elected to the house in new york, now congressman-elect sean maloney. he has discussed how really the resetting of the tax code back to the clinton years should not be viewed as something as horrible as everyone makes it out to be. look, people will vote their conscience on this. sean's point is a good one, which is, look, who is going to suffer most in a negotiation here? the democrats or republicans? if there are a few democrats who believe that going back to the clinton tax code is not so bad, all that does is strengthen the hand of the president in these negotiations. imagine if you will as congressman van hollen said, imagine if you will that the

president has said, all i want to do is preserve -- go back to the clinton tax rates for the top 2%, and the republicans still say now. then we go over the cliff. every day after that the president is in front of the cameras saying the republicans did this, because they wouldn't allow taxes to go up on the rich. every day in front of the cameras. that, my friends, is another recipe for another republican loss in two years from now. >> all right. rachel, david, we're out of time. we'll see if any of that happens. if we go over the cliff, as you pointed out, some would like to see happen for whatever reason or they come up with a deal hear. thank you very much. we'll be right back. thirngzs we thought you should know. again, to the fiscal cliff negotiations at the white house today, and it began on a friendly note. >> my understanding is tomorrow's speaker boehner's birthday, so for those of you who want to wish him a happy birthday, we're not going to embarrass him with a cake

because we didn't know how many candles were needed. >> yeah, right. >> but we want to wish him a happy birthday. >> as a birthday gift the president gave speaker boehner a $125 bottle of italian wine. the president's press secretary tweeted a picture of the bottle, and that's just something we thought you should know. i always wait until the last minute. can i still ship a gift in time for christmas? yeah, sure you can. great. where's your gift? uh... whew. [ male announcer ] break from the holiday stress.

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welcome back. david petraeus's testimony on the hill ends a week with heated word for the u.s. ambassador to the u.n. and an equally heated defense of her by president obama. >> for them to go after the u.n. ambassador who had nothing to do

with benghazi and was simply making a presentation based on intelligence that she had received and to besmurge her reputation is outrageous. >> by the way, i'm not taking anybody on. the american people have lost four brave americans. we owe to their families and other americans. the president of united states for two weeks afterwards to deny that was the case is either a cover-up or it is incompetent. either one of the two. >> he made it clear that there was significant terrorism involvement, and that is not my recollection of what he told us on september 14th. >> he put together information. he personally didn't breech susan rice. >> joining me is mark murray. we know that the week started with this scandal with david petraeus's affair. that's taken a back seat, probably rightfully so, to the president's first press conference, his first news

conference since re-election. now this issue regarding benghazi, the ongoing investigation. >> well, that's right. tamron, this is just one week removed from last week's presidential contest. it shows you that politics is still alive and well in the nation's capital even after the presidential contest. i think you look back at the entire back and forth over the benghazi situation, and what is now coming out after these meetings, i got an e-mail statement from florida senator bill nelson who said one of the things that was made clear at today's meeting was that susan rice, when she was giving the cia intelligence that she did on all those sunday shows, that was what was seen as the intelligence at the time. there was a lot of different moving parts and here and there what was going on. bottom line what republicans have been talking about and criticizing is that the administration didn't have its whole act together, didn't have all the information straight the very next day. at the end of the day they had the story down within two weeks.

that is really where the story is, and there is the argument to be made that particularly that the susan rice confirmation if she's picked to be secretary of state, this might be the last that you end up hearing from all of this in a political context. >> you have that news statement from senator nelson, but that is likely not the interpretation from senator mccain and susan collins and a few others? >> that is right. it's interesting to see what a lot of republican critics are saying after the briefings that they've had over the past two days on the subject. every indication that i've actually seen is that the information that was given not only to the white house, not only to susan rice but also to congress at those very early few days after that attack on september 11th was the intelligence that they had at the time. of course, things do change, but at the end of the day you have to ask yourself is that a fireable offense? is it a controversy? is it a scandal when information does end up changing? >> mark, thank you.

have a great weekend. see you on monday. federal officials are investigating a tragic wreck that claimed the lives of four veterans and injured 17 other people in texas. a freight train crashed into a parade float carrying wounded veterans and their spouses. nbc's jay gray is in midland with the details. jay, first of all, let's go through what witnesses say happened there. >> reporter: well, tamron, as you described, just a horrific scene here yesterday. what witnesses are telling us is that the train did not break as it made its way through here. that the flatbed trailer you see over my shoulder was actually stuck on the tracks, part of a parade line that was just on those tracks and had no way to escape. that's when the train slammed into the flatbed trailer and killed four, injured at least 17 others, five still in the hospital this afternoon. we know that 16 members of a go team from the ntsb are on the ground right now, and they say their investigation could last ten days or longer as they try

to answer the most significant question, which they told us just minutes ago was why? why did this happen? how did it happen? witnesses say that the crossing guard warning bars and lights were all functioning properly as this happened. it was just an unfortunate accident and that the train was barreling along. didn't anticipate what was going to happen and slammed into the last or second to last flatbed trailer on the parade route, tamron. a tough go in what was supposed to be a magnificent weekend here. there was a nonprofit group which flew several of the veterans in for this parade. there was to be a banquet and a weekend of all expenses paid hunting for these wounded veterans. they really wanted to celebrate their service and sacrifice before it went terribly awry. >> breaks your heart. thank you so much, jay. we'll be right back. emale a] think you need to go to a department store counter to treat your toughest skin concerns? join the counter revolution and switch to olay pro-x to see results in 28 days. anti-aging results so you look up to 12 years younger.

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that does it for this edition of "news nation." thank you for joining us all week long. see you on monday. "the cycle" is up next. you won't find a "home rule" on every corner, a "stag provisions" down every block, or a "hugh and crye" in every town. these are the small businesses of america, and all across the nation they're getting ready for their day. hundreds of thousands of small businesses are preparing for november 24, a day to open doors, and welcome the millions of customers who will turn out to shop small. small business saturday. visit shopsmall.com and get ready. because your day is coming.

i'm toure wrapping up a busy week in the "the cycle." the players are the same but the game has changed. president obama invites the who's who to the white house. can reid and boehner get it done this time around? >> what does wall street think about all this? their reaction moves our money. we'll ask a top investor. >> guess who else is watching this closely? the states and they're bracing for impact, but could inaction by congress actually mean more cash at the local level? governors from both parties join us today. >> i'm krystal ball, and there's breaking news in the middle east. israeli troops gathering right now on the gaza border after hamas fires a